War's not over yet!
by Moonstone Valley
Summary: A year has been passed and there's still no sign of any danger. But are they still safe? What would happen?   And a lot of Amy/Ian moments!
1. Chapter 1

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**This is my first fan-fiction! So excited! I know it kinda sucks and has a lot of grammatical mistakes but please review and tell me about my mistakes so I can correct them! And please don't be rude! This chapter is just an Introduction about everything after a year!**

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A cool breeze rustled the last leaves of the year, in the local park near a large mansion. It's fall. It has been kind of chilly out this year but this chill didn't seem to be bothering a girl who was sitting quietly on a bench with a book, spread out on her lap. Her whole attention was diverted to a family, playing nearby. A boy of maybe five was holding hands with a girl quite older than him. They were collection all the leaves from the ground and making small piles of them before jumping on them and falling on the ground. Their laughter rang out like a booming flower on a lonely sidewalk. Their parents were standing nearby, hugging each other and taking pictures of their small sweet family.

Bright crystal- like tears glistened in the jade green eyes of a young girl with beautiful, dark- red, almost brown hair. She was wearing a simple white hoodie on top of a green shirt and skinny jeans. She's a millionaire but she still didn't want attention. She didn't straighten her hair, didn't get highlights or wear super expensive clothes and didn't flirt with young guys of her age, unlike other girls. Amy just wanted to be simple like she had been before the clue hunt that had changed her whole life. And now watching the family play, she had a sudden longing to hug her parents. She was unaware of the book she was holding in her hands too hard that the pages started to rip out from the seam in the middle. She didn't care. She had been like this a lot after their clue hunt ended a year ago. She was now fifteen and had finished her first year at high school. She could remember herself being nervous at first but then it all went well in the end. She could barely remember any happy moments in her life from last year. She had spent most of the days in the library, even during lunch she ate like an elephant and dashed to the library to search on some different ancestry and history of famous people in the world. Unfortunately, she didn't find theirs as interesting as hers. Her family had been fighting for over 500 years and had at last settled in peace last year, all because of Amy and Dan, who were orphans and didn't have any special talents like other branches of their family.

_But the war's not over yet. There's still another family out there, who is more powerful and crueller than us, Cahills. Vespers!_ She shuddered at this thought. She suddenly looked up as another boy of the same age as the girl, picked up her little brother by his collars and threw him on the ground a few feet away from his parents, who were not paying any attention until now, looked up and saw their son crying miserably. They searched for the trouble who had done this but he was gone just like their happiness. Amy couldn't stand it any longer. She snapped her book shut and searched her pocket for a few coins to pay the school librarian for the damage she had done to the book. She stood up and started walking towards her manor, HER manor. She wouldn't have believed it a year from now. Uncle Fiske had got Grace's mansion to be rebuilt after the fire, that had all been a set-up of Holts, destroyed it all. Alas! It was not the same. They couldn't bring back the old collection of books and other precious things of Grace. She still felt a sudden sadness creeping up her heart as she thought about the memorable days with Grace. Why all her loved ones died? Why her? "Stop now...you might start crying and you know that you don't want to cry. You are mature and sensible", Amy said to herself. She had been quite brave and had stopped stuttering. She smiled at this. She could also remember Dan THINKING (which was so unlike him) the other day when she had asked him some questions about 'an old man with beard' as Dan puts it. She had been searching on Shakespeare lately. She loved his 'full of love' quotes. She didn't know what has been happening to her. She just wanted to...be loved, the love that she didn't get from her parents, who died in the fire when she was six.

_Hell Isabelle Kabra! Good for her now that she is in jail. She deserves it_, Amy thought,_ But the damage's been already done_. She reached out to knock on the door. They have added more security to the house. Now the lock had a symbol for each branch. She had forgotten her strange keys, with strange symbols of every branch of her family, in her backpack, which was now in her room. She just hoped Dan was home by now. Nellie had gone to her house to have dinner with her own family, Amy understands her. Uncle Fiske had gone to a party with his old Madrigal friends; Amy doubted that they just "discuss" some family matters._ Anyways_, she thought,_ It's their job. I don't want to get mixed up now. I will just go to my room and start reading some books from MY library. Yeah, that's what I'll do_. Amy got Grace's room and the library that was secretly hidden behind the family crest. It's still made that way, on Amy's orders. But in the library, there were now books of Amy and of course her jade necklace that she put in a case secured by some secret codes. That's totally a Cahill idea. She felt smile inching up her face.

_What the...what was taking so long for Dan to open a damn door_! She had heard him saying something about Subway. Amy sighed. She would just have to wait outside for Dan to come up, eating his bunch of fast food from Subway. But when she was just about to put her book down, the door opened by the person she was least expecting to open the door of HER manor and from INSIDE! She remembered the face too well. This was the same face that had betrayed her a year ago and was now smiling at her in a way to impress girls( **A/N I mean the 'other' girls**), she was not going to fall for it again. Same brown eyes. Same gorgeous, dark- tanned skin. Same shiny- black hair. The same face that had come in her dreams a lot but she had almost forgotten him after the clue hunt, until now! She shoved her way inside without letting him speak. How dare he get in My Manor without my permission! Sure, Dan must have called him! I don't want to deal with him again but doesn't Dan already know that?

_Hell Ian Cobra!_

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**I hope you like it! Again, I know that there are some grammar mistakes but please review!**

**I also need a Beta Reader, so is anyone up for that job? Please? (*battling eyelashes*)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Reminder: I do not own the 39 clues!**

**So happy! Just had three snow days in a row! No school! It's snowing like crazy and I went out and now I am sick! I know that's sad.**

**The next chapter on its way pretty soon!**

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"DAN", Amy screamed loudly.

But no one answered.

"He's not here yet. I saw him eating garbage in...what do you 'Americans' call it?...oh yeah...Subway. We were just waiting for you. And Voila! So, what's going on?" replied Natalie in her too sweet and purring British accent, just like her brother. But Amy knew that half of it was fake. _Something was wrong._

"I...I ss..sshould ask y..you ww...wwhat's going oo...on. So, wh...what's going ooo...on?" _Stupid stammer to come at the worst time,_ thought Amy. _Take a deep breath and calm down. Dan's just going to be on his way home. He will just arrive. He's coming...oh Dan! What's up with you when I need you the most? Ugh!_

As Amy looked around closely, she found EVERYONE staring at her questioningly. EVERYONE means everyone, every cousin who had participated in the clue hunt and had finally managed to work together. All the three Holts, Jonah Wizard, the three Starlings and Kabra! _What are they all doing here?, _she thought.

"Umm, we thought you'd tell us what's happening because you're the one who called us here", Reagan said. She has changed a lot. She looked...skinnier, but still pretty athletic.

"I? I...I didn't call you a...all here!" Amy exclaimed, terror covering her face, "I thought you all came here because Dan called you."_ Good, her stuttering was settling a bit._ She sighed. But nobody was paying any attention to her stuttering, they were all exchanging strange looks with each other.

Then finally Hamilton replied, "Amy, are you sure you did not call us here?" He said every word slowly as if Amy was a kindergartener.

But Jonah cut in, "Yo, dudes, did I just really cancelled like my biggest concert in Miami, just to come here and find ye dudes making up some kid excuses?"

"Yeah", Sinead joined in, "Who exactly made up this whole idea of meeting-up together and and..."She looked at her brothers to help her finish the sentence. But they were looking at Kabras, who were glaring at Holts, who were all staring at Amy as if she was a crazy fugitive from a prison where they keep all the strange and creepy people, with no sense whatsoever.

Amy backed up a few steps, "W...Why ...? ...umm"-

"AAAAHHHH", the biggest scream rang out in the whole mansion. Amy turned around and found her brother standing on the door steps with packages of subs and cookies in his hands. _Finally decided to show up, did you?, _Amy thought, but Dan already read her thoughts. He looked around.

"What are you all doing here? Anyways, didn't know you were all coming. Did Amy-sis call you? Well, that's good. Sorry, didn't bring enough chocolate-chip cookies for everyone. By the way, Amy, here you're!" Dan turned and stretched out his hands to offer Amy some cookies.

But Amy didn't seem to listen. She was not looking at him anymore. She wasn't looking at anyone anymore. Her whole attention was focused on a strange but beautiful object just lying a few paces away from them on a three-legged stool.

"W...who b...brought t..this?" Amy asked. Everyone went speechless.

"It is beautiful", Ian replied, who hadn't said a single word until now, was looking at the strange object as if it was the most beautiful thing in the whole world for him._ Except for someone_, he added privately to himself.

A jewellery box was sitting on the stool. It was so beautiful that whoever looks at it would get drunk by its intricate beauty. It was made of oak fabric and looked very delicate. There were diamonds strewn on the outer surface and looking closely, one might find strange symbols drawn here and there. There was an eagle and it looked like it was standing on a serpent which was coiled under its huge claws. There was a strange symbol and it suspiciously looked like a 'V'. It was mesmerising and it had floral designs and it was simply square.

Amy opened the lid carefully as if it was a bomb and would explode any minute. She snatched something from inside and read the instructions on the inner surface of the lid. The writings were in italics. Then suddenly as if it had stung her, she whacked it with her book and the box fell on the ground, with all its small glass pieces scattering everywhere.

"I didn't know you might get jealous of just a box, who earned a compliment from my brother", said Natalie, looking at his brother in hope to see his blushing expression but his face was completely blank as if somebody had flushed it. She looked around and found everyone's expression blank._ Are everyone becoming zombies? _She thought.

"Hey, isn't that..."Hamilton said, his voice trailing away. He had definitely seen something that Natalie didn't seem to notice, maybe because she was standing on the other side facing everyone, who were looking at the a small object.

"No...No...No...No way!" wailed Dan, who still had subs and cookies in his hands. His whole face was pale and shrunken. He suddenly looked a lot older as if the whole world had been infected by the least curable virus. _In fact it did get infected!, _he thought.

"Yes way", Ian replied quietly.

Natalie looked down at the object that everybody seemed to be staring at blankly. It had come out of the pieces of the jewellery box when Amy broke it.

"A moonstone? Huh", said Natalie, who finally realized what the object was.

"Worse than that", replied Amy, her voice all calmed.

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**I need your help for another chapter! Any ideas of what's going on? What's written on the inside of the beautiful jewellry box? or What does that moonstone mean?**

**Review, Please! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Continued after Chapter 2... Sorry, this chapter is pretty short. Had a test to study for! **

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"What's worse than a moonstone?" said Natalie, finding it very funny.

Amy looked to her brother for help. Her face read, _Dan, tell them everything._ Somehow, he understood how she felt at the moment.

"Guys, it's not her fault that she broke the box." Dan said, but nobody seemed to understand what he was talking about.

"It's all a mistake," he continued, "When Amy opened the lid, there was some writing on the inner side. You must've seen them too. It said,_ 'Stay with the peace'_. I know it sounds wrong, but think about some other things that are named as _'the peace'_. The first thing that comes to mind is the silence. Obviously, the silence means peace. But judging by our past experiences and a suspicious _'v'_ on the top, you would think that the silence means the death. So some of us," he looked at Ian and Amy, who were the only ones who understood exactly what happened , "thought that the box might be a trap set by another family, who had worked against us for the past five hundred years; the Vespers. So Amy dropped it, deliberately, so that whatever was inside it might get destroyed and wouldn't kill us. But, as you see, we found a moonstone inside it. A moonstone is actually a stone that is superstitiously supposed to calm the person who wears it, and it also means, _'the peace'_."

"That clearly states that Amy ruined our last chance to find out the person who might be behind all this - calling all of us together, and sending this ridiculous box just to scare us away. And Amy did the exact thing they were hoping we'd do." Sinead burst out loudly, and looked so angry that Amy was that foolish.

'_Why is everybody against me? Why doesn't anyone understand me?'_ Amy thought. She had dropped the box because she _did _sense something wrong, and she didn't want anybody else to get hurt. But, she hadn't expected herself to be wrong, after all this time! Ian saw her, and somehow sensed her failure.

"And what if it really _was_ a trap, and she had not have acted so quickly, then we might be somewhere you wouldn't even want to think about!" Ian said to defend Amy, who glanced at him at that moment, and their eyes met for full three seconds before she averted her eyes.

"Don't even think that I am that stupid to agree with your made-up story," Natalie fumed, who looked so ferocious that Ian seemed to melt in front of her gaze. "I saw Amy snatch something out of the box. What is it?" She turned towards Amy, who was absolutely flabbergasted.

"Did you think you might make this a story of a stupid moonstone, and we'd believe it and leave you alone? No, you were trying to hide something. I saw it with my own eyes. Show me what you're hiding behind your back."

"She _does _have brains _and _eyes." Dan muttered, but somehow his humor didn't seem to break the tensed atmosphere.

"I w-was-" Amy started.

_CLANGG. _

Everybody froze. "What the _hell _was that?"Jonah said, breaking the silence.

"Somebody other than us is in the house at this very moment." Ian said in an unusually quiet voice.

For the first time after the Clue hunt ended a year ago, everyone seemed to sense danger in the air.

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**Thanks for reading! Now please REVIEW!**

**And a special thanks to LOP (clapping and cheering), I know, she's awesome, eh?**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know I'm late! So sorry! Was busy doing stuff for Christmas and New Year.**

**Anyways, here's a long chapter for you guys, 'cause you deserve it!**

**Self-Disclaimer= I, sherrie07, do not own the 39 clues.**

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Dan went over to the cupboard, set by the door, while everyone was assuming what was going on. He took out a keyboard and wrote 'Cahill'. Then suddenly the wall opposite them split apart and out came a huge screen divided into six parts, each showing a different angle of the building from outside.

"Sadly, there are no cameras inside the house because of some issues" At that, he glared at Amy, who blushed.

"Should we split up and look for the intruder?" Madison suggested.

"I think someone will have to stay here and keep an eye on this screen to check if he or she has left the building. I suggest, I will stay here, as you know, I am more talented in computer technologies," Sinead replied, shoving Dan away from the screen and typing something on the keyboard.

"Sure, come on, Dan, my homie," Jonah said, bumping on his shoulder, "I choose you!"

"Oh, brother!" Natalie muttered. _Why did he get to choose Dan, and why didn't he protest, I thought he always pair up with Amy! _She thought, inching towards Ian, but before she could say anything, Madison cut in-

"Come on, Natalie, let's go this way," Madison started tugging her sleeve towards the basement door.

_How dare she touch me? She doesn't even have any idea how precious my dress is! _The clothing designer, from a really famous fashion company, has been hired by Vikram Kabra, for Natalie and Ian. Since then Natalie always wear the most expensive clothing of her choice. That day, she was wearing a really tight and terribly short (ignoring Ian's comments), shimmering black dress with hanging sleeves and knee- high boots, really expensive.

A lot of shuffling and shoving was going on, as everybody started to move towards their partners. Finally, five teams were made- Dan and Jonah, both, deep in conversation about ninjas and how Jonah could hire them to teach Dan; Natalie and Madison, most of the time Natalie glaring at her; Ned and Ted, who were glued together by the world's most powerful glue; Hamilton and Reagan and last but not the least, Amy and Ian. Even though, Amy was inching away from him and shooting dark glances at Dan, nobody came- up to her to trade partners, Natalie too was held tight by Madison.

"Let's go and be careful, everyone!" They all started getting ready. Hamilton, Reagan and Madison were pumping their fists, and Natalie decided to keep away from Madison in case she sees her as a boxing pillow. Both teams went down in the basement. Jonah, Dan, Ned and Ted decided to search the first floor.

As everybody left, Ian, Amy and Sinead were the only ones standing. Sinead was too busy in attaching some small equipment with the computer.

"That leaves the second floor. I bet the person is up there because I am sure I heard some noise coming from upstairs," said Ian, climbing the stairs. Amy followed.

'_Why me? Why did I get_ him _as a partner, of all the other people?_ _Always, inside the question!' _She thought about her favorite writer's quote 'Inside the question'.

"I understand you have a lot of questions, you want to ask me, but please try to understand, I didn't really mean to hurt you, back there in Korea," Ian said, turning around to face her. "In fact, I will never _ever _think about hurting you"

"I don't want to talk about it. I-I ...just forget about it, okay?" Amy replied, looking anywhere but him.

"But you still won't talk to me," Ian said, taking a few steps towards her and she backed a few steps.

Her breathing had reached the highest level. She thought she might start hyperventilating any minute. "L-Look, there's someone in m-my house right now, a-and you are thinking about o-our long _lost _r-relationship? I don't want to think about it. I-It's all o-over," Amy stuttered, trying to control it but couldn't_. Why does this always happen when he is around? _She thought.

They had reached her bedroom door which was, suspiciously, ajar. _That's weird_, she thought, reaching her hand towards the door but Ian caught it.

"Wait! I should go first," he said, still holding her hand before she yanked it away.

He went inside. Then Amy followed and found him standing only a few steps away from the family crest, which was all broken apart, the door leading to the secret library, wide open. Amy ran up to it and peered inside.

"No! I-Ian, come and have a look at t-this," Amy cried, her face all screwed by tears. Ian hadn't seen her like this, before. He caught up with her and gently pushed her aside.

All the library contents were thrown everywhere. Some of the books were damaged. But fortunately, the person wasn't interested in her jade necklace. The box was sitting quietly on the same place where she had last put it.

"Where are they? Is there a secret exit?" he asked her. She nodded. "Let's go!" He took her by her hands, this time she didn't yank it away. They ran downstairs, yelling everyone's name.

But when they reached the entrance, they were too late. They found Sinead's body, lying on the ground. The screen was broken, all the jagged glasses lying around her body. Ian inspected her pulse, and then replied, "She's alright, no real damage done to her body. She's just been attacked so she passed out. She will be conscious in a few minutes. But we have to take her away from here. These broken glasses look dangerous enough."

Soon, everybody caught up and complaint about someone calling their names but as soon as they saw what happened, they went silent. They helped Amy and Ian carry Sinead's body upstairs and also clean up the room.

Finally, they sat down around Sinead's bed and as she came to consciousness, they asked her if she remembered who exactly had attacked her, but she just shook her head and they left her alone to have some rest and went to the drawing room and threw themselves on the couches.

"So, got any idea?" Dan asked, looking at everyone.

"Wait! Amy, what's it that you're hiding from us", Natalie plunged herself on the couch beside Amy.

"Get a break, Natalie. She was just going to show it to you," Ian said, lazily, exhausted by the hard work he had done.

Amy searched her pockets and took out a small scroll. The crushed paper opened uneasily. Amy's eyes skimmed the contents, and then darted to the lamp beside her. In the stillness her breath repeated itself, harsh in her throat. As her eyes reluctantly returned to the message, the lamp's afterimage danced across her retinas, confusing her vision, but the scroll's contents had already been seared deep into her memory.

Dan, who was bending over her shoulder, read out loud, "Moab, Utah. Come and save your loved one. You have three days, hand yourself in or you will pay the price. We do not tolerate tardiness."

"Nellie," Dan whispered.

"No, someone else that even we wouldn't know about but it is someone that is close to us somehow." Amy sighed.

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**Betaread by Th3Sk8t3rG1rl. Thank you very much! :)**

**P.S. I didn't mean to make Amy so coward-y but it's in her nature and further in the story, she wouldn't be like that and there's going to be a lot of surprises, so don't leave your seats!( It's just a saying, you can leave your seat, of course, but for now!)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

They were going to touchdown on a landing strip on Moab, Utah in Kabra's Blue Star Jet, one of the most comprehensive and efficient private jet like Ian and Natalie had said and everyone totally agreed with them, especially Dan, who found the aircraft 'totally ninja', another word added in his vocabulary. The aircraft had 5 suites, each suite included couple of things like a large swivel chair that converted into bed; a dining table; a 17- inch LCD screen loaded with movies, TV shows, games; an eight- course tasting menu from an Australian Chef, etc.

Amy had been reading the brochures and guides for the whole flight. Dan was sitting right next to her, examining the camera on the side of the seat and making weird faces on it, before he suddenly looked out of the window, taking in the beauty of the city of Moab, mostly the airport. He turned around to face his sister and glanced sceptically at the picture on the front of the brochure that Amy was reading. Gorgeous red cliffs and strange rock formations popped out at him. A lone pair of hikers strolled down a wilderness path under a huge, deep blue sky. Above the scene a headline read, MOAB, UTAH: HIKER HEAVEN.

"Moab sounds awesome," Hamilton said, popping his head from the middle of Dan and Amy's seats. "We, Tomas, were going to make a stronghold there but then it would seem too obvious, the best hiking place and we, the best hikers, you know. Dad and I had been planning to go there before..." His voice trailed away as he remembered the old days, maybe not so old.

"The Clues hunt." Dan completed.

"Well." Amy cut in, totally oblivious to the conversation that had just happened. "There are two national parks nearby, Arches and Canyonlands, with amazing hiking and mountain biking trails. There's also rafting on the Colorado River, horseback riding-every kind of wilderness sport you can think of." She read from the paper- book, her eyes skimming each line.

"This is just a pre-vacation book. And nothing here states anything about a different, mysterious, historical or famous place like, umm a Cahill sort of place, if you know what I mean. There are just things written about hiking. Then how and where are we supposed to go and where exactly do _they_ want us to be?" She looked at them questioningly. They were interrupted by the announcement on PA reporting that they were going to land in five minutes and they should fasten their seat-belts soon.

"I think I should go back and check what Madison and Reagan are doing." Hamilton walked away, leaving Dan in an awkward situation with Amy.

Unexpectedly, Amy squeezed Dan's hand. "Dan, I can't believe we're here!"

They both looked at each other, both of their eyes showing different emotions- anxiety, curiousness, love for each other but the scariest of all_, fear._ Both were just as thrilled, of course. How could they not be? Amy and Dan had spent their last year on the clue hunt. But coming here was different to them, a lot different! They weren't going to hunt clues and run away from relatives, they were entering a dangerous stage of their lives, against the Vespers! This was not a clue hunt. This was worse than that! The War between the Cahills and Vespers was still going on. And now they had become the prime victim of it. And they just couldn't leave like they could've done during the clue hunt, but they didn't because they had a choice and they chose to stay on like they were doing now and not because they _wanted_ to stay but because of what might happen if they didn't stay on. They landed.

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"Well?" Ian looked at Amy, who glanced away quickly, trying to avoid his eyes. Everyone, heaving all their luggage, were standing in the reception area, where you book the hotels and taxis. Ian had been staring at her the whole time after they'd landed, and now, took few steps towards her.

"I think we should check in to some hotel first!" Hamilton said, realising the situation, hastily stepped between Amy and Ian, who glared at him furiously.

"Good idea! But, which one? Oh, wait! How about this Ranger Rose, huh?" Dan said, looking at some 'reservation- at- hotel' papers. He looked at everyone, grinning goofily, while Natalie gave him a weird look.

"No way! I, Natalie Kabra? Staying in a dingy hotel? Called Ranger Roost? Come on, Ian; let's get away from these poor- uh_, relatives_." She flipped through her hair with her hand and looked away, pretending not to know them.

"Okay, then, if you want to be so dramatic, why don't you choose a hotel for us yourself, instead of standing like a dumb _princess_, waiting for us to do everything and criticizing us?" Reagan exploded, moving threateningly towards Natalie, whose face looked like it had been punched because all the air had seemed to pump out of it.

"Uh- wait, I think I have a solution for this." Ian said as he tried to hold Reagan back, who settled and stared at him, like everyone. Then he walked up to the reservation counter and flashed his gorgeous smile. The clerk, who was unfortunately a girl, looked like she had been promoted a job!

"Can I get you something?" She said as she started to move towards him slowly. She had spiky black hair, obviously dyed, because they didn't quite match her skin, which was a little pale. She was wearing a uniform of gray shirt, so that added to the things that made her look dull. But if you look closely, you would notice that she had wonderful eyes, sea-blue colour; which made her look quite cute and mischievous.

"We were just having some problems with the hotels. Could you suggest some _decent_ hotel for us?" He asked her, and as soon as he had said that, she started to flick through the small pile of papers on her desk and finally took out one.

"Here's one. You can have this." She handed him the paper with the address and name and every other information about the hotel.

"Is this the best one around here?" He asked, with a frown, while the girl thought that even with a frown, he looked so hot!

"Absolutely! If you need anything else, here's my phone number. Jane." She handed him her card, her eyes all dreamy.

"Sure. Thanks, by the way, Jane." He turned away from her and put her card in his pocket, which surprised Natalie, who had never seen him put a card of a random girl in his pocket. '_There's surely something going on in his bloody head.' _She thought as she glanced at Amy, who had pretended to look at some magazines on the side rack all the time, and even now, wasn't paying any attention to him.

"Let's begin our journey, shall we?" Ian turned to his cousins, gesturing them out of the entrance, which was suspiciously weird of him because he had never acted like this before.

Natalie shrugged and followed everyone out when a black Mercedes pulled up by the curb, which none of them noticed as they were all busy looking for their own Mercedes.

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**Thanks for you reviews, everyone! I appreciate them. **

**I would be late updating the next chapter because my exams are coming, but I'll try to update soon, I didn't say I won't try, geez!**

**A question for you guys : Do you want Jane to appear more in the story? Review.**

**P.S. You might have noticed some logical spelling mistakes while Natalie was speaking, but actually they were not spelling mistakes, she was just making fun of the hotel.**


	6. Chapter 6

Heaving a sigh, Dan stopped his trolley.

"How much longer are we going to wait, again?"

"Daniel, the hotel is 40 miles from here, according to this booklet, and I already made some arrangements for a car to pick us up, any minute now. No worries," Ian replied, scanning the booklet that Jane had given him back inside the airport.

"A car? _A car_? What do ya think, are we all going to fit in _a car_?" Sinead said, indignantly, crossing her hands, in front of her.

"It's a Mercedes, silly," Ian said, frowning at her. But before Sinead could reply to his obsolete comment, Hamilton broke in.

"Guys, calm down. We're not here to start a fight between our own family members, remember?"

"Oh my goodness, it's started raining." Natalie said, looking up at the dark clouds that had been standing still a minute ago, and now, had starting dribbling. "I haven't changed my outfit for four hours! Now, it's raining, making it all worse!"

"Do you mean 'the worst'?" Reagan said, "Because look, we have been standing here for half an hour, not including Dan's stroll, and there's still no sign of_ a car_, that was supposed to pick us up. Am I not right, cousin?" She turned to Ian, who had made a habit of frowning at everyone.

"Hey, who's that?" Amy asked, saving Ian from saying something foul back at Reagan. (Maybe today, everyone was saving each other's breaths). She pointed in the direction where the black Mercedes had been parked. As they all turned and looked, the Mercedes started, pulled out of the curb and went away in the opposite direction leaving all the kids open- mouthed.

"Who's who? Huh?" Madison asked, still confused and oblivious of what had just happened.

"Somebody's following us." Ned said, searching his pockets for something. _'If only I can find it,'_ he thought. He had gotten a surgery for his ears, recently, wore a strange technological instrument on his left ear, with a wire connecting his right ear. Everyone had been admiring it, before Hamilton whispered, making everyone jump. Even though it was kind of silly to get startled by a whisper, but when everyone's quiet and focused on something, a whisper would be like a shout, although, Hamilton's whispers were always like shouts.

"Guys, do not look back"

"Why?" Natalie turned, clearly not understanding what he meant, looked in the direction where Hamilton's been looking and made the grave mistake.

Two men completely covered in black, except their faces, but their eyes were also covered in goggles; were standing a few yards away, eyeing the children. As soon as Natalie noticed them and gasped, all dramatically, one man spoke something in his walkie- talkie and they both started walking towards the kids, fishing their pockets and finally, taking out small, pocket guns.

Natalie, where's the gun?" Ian asked her, almost screaming.

"I don't have it." Natalie replied, innocently.

"What in the bloody boomers...!"

"Run!" Hamilton cried, having practiced it a couple of times in his football matches. Although it was quiet unnecessary to say that, because everyone had already started running before him, picking their backpacks from the trolleys and flinging them on their shoulders.

By the time they reached the end of parking lots, everyone was drenched in rain water.

"Wait..." Dan huffed, out of breath, and stopped. "Wait, I need ..."

"Got it." Amy said, pushing the inhaler in his hands. "I always keep a second pair with me. Nellie is too busy with her agent trainings and as you know, she doesn't spend too much time with us. I thought it best to keep one with me in emergency. And I remember telling you too, but-"

"Watch out!" Dan screamed, pulling Amy away as a huge white van tore past and put on breaks as soon as the people, inside, saw them.

"Hey, you!" Sinead yelled, poking her face out from the back seat. Amy and Dan exchanged awed looks. "Come on, we don't have time for chit-chats. Hop in, quickly"

The back door flung open letting Amy and Dan in. "Awesome! How did you guys...so quickly...as I was catching my breath...What the hell!" Dan screamed, obviously surprised by his cousins, quick- witted skills of breaking into someone's car in seconds.

"Duh, we are Cahills?" Natalie replied, indignantly, thinking about his foolishness and forgetfulness.

Everyone smiled, both because Natalie hadn't said 'Lucian' and also because they were Cahills, all with different abilities. This opening made everyone feel all fresh with new hope and also in need of new clothes.

The van peeled away in a screech of tires, narrowly missing a bullet shot by one of the men in black. Forgetting, in all the craziness, to put his seatbelt on, Dan slammed into the van's window.

"Sorry!" Ian shouted, who was driving. Dan peeled his face away from the window, groaning. Amy sighed in frustration at her brother's clumsiness,as she watched her disoriented little brother stumble a little before sitting down.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

"Yeah." Dan shook his head to clear the fuzziness in time to see one of the men in black pull out another gun. He saw him aim it at one of the back tires.

"Watch out!" Amy shrieked, clearly seeing the bullet also. Ian did a sharp turn, expertly dogging the bullet.

Amy turned and looked at him. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and said, "You know, you seem to know what you're doing a little too well."

Ian looked away sheepishly, "W- well, mum-" He cut off when he noticed her start smiling.

"It's okay." Amy assured, still smiling. "Your expertise just saved our butts."

Ian looked away, hiding a small blush. Everyone was looking at Amy and Ian, like a tennis match.

"We should be at the hotel in a little less than an hour, although, this rain might make it worse." With that the van sped away from the men in black, towards their destination.

"Yo! Moab, we're comin'!" Jonah yelled.

* * *

**(A/N) Hello, guys, I am really sorry for my delay in update. Like I said before, I have exams. I still have two of my exams tomorrow, wish me luck!:)**

**I was just wondering: Do you want me to continue my other story called 'Cahill Christmas', which was a two-shot? (If you haven't read it yet, read it now!) I stopped updating it because I thought that Christmas is gone and it would be silly writing a Christmas story (No offense to other writers who are still writing christmas stories,although I like them, don't stop). Anyways, my question is, do you want me to make the story from two- shot to multi- chapter?**

**A special thanks to my new betareader: Th3Sk8tG1rl, who helped me a lot and gave me some cool ideas for this chapter! A big round of applause! Yay!**

**~Sherrie07 signing out~**


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